Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

“What and or who are these Hounds & Harlots”, you may ask. “Am I with or am I not with them”, that is another damn fine question, one of several I fix on answering to some degree in the next few sentences. Well let’s start with the former.  Hounds & Harlots is a punk rock band rising up outta the San Francisco Bay.

The punk rock quartet consists of (at the time of this recording) Greg De Hoot on Bass and Vox, Bryan Zimmerman on Guitar and Vox, “Nice Guy” Brandon on Guitar and Vox and Cory Cunningham on Drums. What you have here is the basic ingredients for punk rock, four strapping young lads from the dark heart of the city by the bay.

The demo disc that I received is done up in modern era DIY fashion; A burned 3-track CD, hand markered for identification purpose and a b/w photocopy liner. I applaud the effort and am glad it wasn’t on cassette, ‘cause I don’t even have a cassette deck anymore. Something more to mention about the DIY ethic of the band, they are constantly rocking the social media. I, in fact, first heard of them through some mutual friends on Twitter. Way to capitalize on the new means to network.

The aforementioned disc contains three tracks: Divisadero, Wasted and Lots to Learn. They are all strong, but the clear leader is the opener, Divisadero. The track is a rollicking sing-a-long punk rock number that’ll like have you packing your bags for the neighborhood for which the band espouses so much pride. The two following tracks are both solid in their own right, but lack the catchy chorus of the lead-in number.

I will leave you with this, am I with them? Yes I am.

–Jerry Actually

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I don’t know what to say except that perhaps the title of this new NOFX release is far to aptly correct. “The Decline” leaves me a little underwhelmed and a little disappointed. The comedic yet poignant NOFX that I once knew is gone for the moment. I’m not going to give up on them (’cause I didn’t like “Heavy Petting Zoo” either) but here’s the deal a little less art boys and a lot more rock. the CD starts out well enough for the first couple (or what I assume to be) tracks and then it drops right out. I know there are some die hard NOFX fans out there that are gonna be pissed reading this, but then again they’re probably 15. Another thing is that this CD is very politically charged, not this this bothers me, but again it is a departure from what I’ve grown to enjoy from NOFX. I guess it’s good to vent, but get on with it and get back to the good times I have grown to love/loathe.

–Jerry Actually

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